Road Trip: The end

Utah and Idaho were strange. Desert next to snow-capped mountains. Several times, from the car window, the scenery looked like a painted old-hollywood film backdrop -- flat and false. 

We stopped

at Multnomah Falls, about an hour away from Portland. We both look very weird in the photos, but the waterfalls were so gorgeous. 

This is where I live now, in a loft where I can spy on everyone. Sometimes its a very musical household.  Dane loves being a creep in photos, as he does he very successfully. In the background are Missy and Kevin, my new roommies. 

Road trip: troixieme

Happy to Be in Grand Junction!

Dane was feeling under the weather the night we got into Grand Junction, so he laid in with the dogs most of the first day. Janelle and Matt have two amazing dogs and one amazing cat. Best pets ever.

Then we went hiking in the Mesa, or the Monument, or some kind of desserty mountain range that starts with an M.  

And here is Janelle, lovely as ever with her hair all long.

Dane may look nice and calm on that rock, but he was a lot higher up that it seems, and nervously rushing me to take the picture.

Self-portrait in the mountains. I am coming to terms with my Mesa mullet.

Road Trip part deux

We lost our driver's side mirror outside Chicago. A rogue stick flew from the beneath the wheels of the Jeep in front of us, and the mirror was gone. 

Kansas City was the next stop, short and sweet. We stayed in this storefront/church that had been converted into a venue and a residence. We had timed it so the night we stayed there was a sweet little show with all sorts of acts: tape loop songs, thrash, shoegaze etc.







Next was Colorado, after an agonizing drive through vapid nothingness that is the state of Kansas. The Rockies were beautiful - I don't think I've seen anything like them except maybe when I was too young to remember. 

 

  We were taking in everything around us when we hit one of those miles-long steep downgrades. A friend of mine had told me to put the car in second gear (we drive an automatic) when going down long steep downhill grades.  The triple A booklet and the owner's manual gave the same advice. DON'T DO IT!

 We severely overheated. Neither Dane nor I were used to the car yet, so we didn't notice that the temperature gauge climbing. Because of bad design,  the check engine light is blocked by the steering wheel. We had to be towed in Vail, Colorado, a tiny ski resort town which happens to be one of the highest elevations of I-70. Meanwhile, the sun was setting and the mechanics shops were closing.  Our tow truck driver informed us it was the height of ski season, so a hotel room would cost between $400 and $600 a night.  If we couldn't get the car running that night, we would have been screwed. 

     

   The tow truck guy must have felt sorry for us. He fixed our cracked manifold for $80 in 30 degree weather at 8 pm.  I remember my feet freezing through my shoes just by standing on the icy parking lot of the car shop.

     

Road Trip : chapter one

First stop: Nashville. 

Lucy took Dane and I out to lunch at the restaurant she manages. I had an amazing meal 

of mussels and lemoncello.  (Lemoncello is illegal in the US, or so I've heard...)

Then Paris and Champaign, where we had a very good time but didn't take any photos.

Then Chicago, where we spent too much time playing at the Bean in Millennium Park.